Little dude is about 35 in tall now, and 25 lbs., which translates to LONG & LEAN. By the clothing charts, that would be 2T in length but about 12 months in his waist. HA! Looks like Big Daddy G will have to bring me some rope from the barn to cinch up the little buckeroo's britches.
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And, this tidbit: "he is a bundle of energy and fun with a really lovely sharing nature"
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Ok, wait a sec...
Isn't he BEAUTIFUL??!!!
This. kid. My. heart.
Just to bring everyone up to speed, the Chin*se adoption process is solid: predictable & stable. There are certain steps that have a specific timeframe, and a few steps that are variable. We've just crossed the last big variable hurdle - LOA (Letter of Acceptance) - the official match of our paperwork to our son's. All this time, we've been "pre-approved", pending the sufficiency of our dossier.
The much anticipated LOA document pretty much says: The Ch*nese government has matched you to ________________. Do you accept this match?
Do I accept this match???!!!!
Let me just say, it took all that is within me to NOT write:
Heck, YEAH!!
Ok, my bark is worse than my bite. I wasn't REALLY tempted to do that. Not even a little. In fact, when these documents come through, there is a crazy anxiety that grabs you temporarily because you KNOW that you are going to be THE ONE to mess it up, and, for-goodness-sake, it's not like we can go print another "original" off at Kinko's.
So, we dutifully & politely checked: "We accept this child" and, with a shaky hand, double checking that we were hovered above the exact right spot, signed and dated this beautiful document.
Phew...
Now, the rest of the process is rather predictable, and we are definitely on track to travel in 10-12 weeks. However, a little, tiny obscure holiday happens to fall on January 31st, and the country will PARTY for the following 2 weeks. Chinese New Year is only the biggest, baddest, greatest holiday celebrated there all year, so everything will be shut down for part of those 2 weeks. And, it will be too crazy & crowded to travel in the midst of it (even though I would LOVE to experience this important part of my boys' culture in person!! Food, family & fireworks?? Yes, please!)
So, unless something really big happens to derail all of the little pleasantries the 2 governments will be exchanging in breathless anticipation of our arrival in the Motherland (it's late; I'm going downhill fast. sorry), we should be able to travel the 2nd half of February to absorb our amazing little bro into this crazy clan. Cool, huh?
Honestly, I have to be a little silly at times about this because the process is heavy, the wait is long, the reason he's available is tragic, but the gift to our family is unbelievably good. So good. God has preserved this little one's life and, in His great kindness, has created a perfect shaped hole in our hearts for him to fill. I love and miss one I have never met. It is a bit of a mystery, and it wrecks me again and again.
I don't know how to perfectly segue into this: we still need help to get there. We're making progress, but there is still a financial "ocean" to cross before we cross the real one to unite our family. If you want to support our family in bringing our little cowboy home for good, the information is over here on the side somewhere ------------------->>>> If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at any time HERE.
Thank you so much for sharing our excitement. Please pray for us as we continue to prepare to become a family of 7. Of utmost importance to us is equipping our 5 year old for the trip back to his birth-land and for his new role of sharing the rest of us with his little brother. He is so excited, to the extent he "gets it", but this trip back may be very hard on him. We are thankful beyond words for the work of Dr. Purvis and the Empowered to Connect team, as well as the counsel of wise, more adoption-seasoned friends, who continually remind us of the complexity of parenting these 2 precious sons from hard places but also remind us that there is great HOPE that joy and healing are available in the midst of the pain. Seriously, if you have a child in your life - whether you are the auntie or uncle, teacher, parent, grandparent, friend - ETC is the BEST overall training on connecting to the heart of that child, adopted or not.
I think it was the Peace Corp who had the slogan years ago: It's the toughest job you'll ever love. Sorry, PC, parenthood trumps you in this.
Our hearts are so full.
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| boys & summer buzz cuts - proud family tradition |
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| sweet lil stinker |
