Here we grow again!

After a long hiatus from blogging it is now time to put fingers to keyboard and start typing again.  After all, we have exciting news to share in the form of a little Vietnamese boy.  Yes, as many of you know, we are planning to adopt again!  I was called about our official adoption date yesterday...and it is three weeks away!

Wow!  Hard to believe. After months and months of paperwork and seemingly endless waiting we are in a mad race against time to pack, buy tickets, arrange hotels, get travel visas and get everything in order so we can travel.  Not to mention arranging our leaves of absence from work. It is very exciting to announce that I only have three shifts of work left until I am off for about six months or so.

We have encountered a little hiccup in the travel plans today.  Somehow a letter that the Citizenship Canada people should be receiving and then sending has not been received.  Tomorrow morning we have to make a call and pray they can speed that letter up.  If not, we may be delayed.  I was just about to buy the airline tickets when we found this out so I asked the agent to just hold them until tomorrow.  This definitely adds a little stress to the "blissful" time we are having.  (Thankfully you can't see my face right now...it has been anything but peaceful around here today as I have been scrambling to cancel dental appts, schedule typhoid shots, arrange hotels, talk to travel agents about tickets and visas, arrange health coverage for our new son, you get the picture.)

In the midst of the chaos, my good friend Carolyn came over for a quick lunch and a fabulous sanity break.  I also had a super exciting call today from prospective adoptive parents, R&L.  They just got a referral of an adorable little Chinese boy today!  Praying for their blessing!

Anyway, as per usual, I have digressed.  I know you all want to see pics of our little one but we are respecting Vietnamese rules that say no online pic posting of children matched for adoption until the adoption is finalized.  What I can tell you all though, is that he is two years old, has had a difficult journey medically in his short life, and he has a sweet smile to melt our hearts. He was born with a complex heart problem, a life-threatening esophageal atresia/fistula, and an abnormally shaped  right ear.  That's the bad news... The good news is his heart is fixed now, and  his esophageal condition was fixed at a couple days old. 

With my medical background, I am well aware that any time a baby is born with multiple anomalies there is always a concern re: is this a syndrome?  He has been tested for one syndrome that we were particularly concerned about and the results for that condition were negative.  It is very possible we could be facing some added medical surprises when he arrives back home, but we feel very confident that we are to move ahead and adopt him.  Is he currently developmentally delayed?

Yes. 

The difficult thing to assess is whether this is due to having spent so much time sick in hospital prior to his heart repair, having lived in an orphanage while out of hospital, or whether this is due to a genetic issue.  The doctor who reviewed his file and videos here feels that he is doing pretty well considering what he has been through.  This specialist in internationally adopted children said to us, "I had something I was prepared to discuss with you but once I saw the videos I promptly decided not to say it. He may in fact just be a child with a few isolated problems."

Whatever the case, we love him anyway.  Kids are kids. Not syndromes. 

All our four children are thrilled to be welcoming another child into the family.  They can't wait to have a little baby brother.   The older three kids understand he may have more challenges than other children.  Their answer when I asked them if it bothered or concerned them was a resounding, "Who cares.  We want him anyway."

Please pray for us and for our children as they adapt yet again.  I am especially concerned for our dear little Li Lin.  She is younger, understands less about what is going on, but knows enough to realize her "place as baby in the family" is being threatened.  When we first began the process over a year and a half ago she was always asking for a brother. When she first saw his pic a few weeks ago, reality set in and she did not like hearing anyone talk about him.  Thankfully she is now very excited and keeps finding toys around the house to give to "didi" (means little brother in mandarin).  We do know that she may struggle with me holding her little didi.  She has frequently said, "Daddy can hold didi, and you can hold me."

We will try to be as sensitive as we can to the needs of all of our children.  We know the orphanage setting will likely be hard on Logan and Rykauna.  Not to mention Steph and I.  We also know the orphanage children, including our little guy, are infested with scabies.  Please pray we can avoid passing this around the family.  Any suggestions to avoid getting it would be welcome.  I am thinking of trying tea tree oil?! 

As I close I should mention, our little boy will be called Jadon (pronounced Jaydon).  It is a biblical name that I have seen two different meanings for: "God has heard" and  "thankful".  As my dad puts it, "God has heard and we are thankful!"