Oh Boy!

More pics of that sweet little boy have arrived on FB! How blessed I am to have that open for me! So many many parents never get to see updated pictures of their precious ones while they are in the orphanages, but I have soooo many! (Thanks to S.Z and S.B.!)

One small step forward

I talked to my social worker today and she said she might be able to get my homestudy off to my agency on Monday! A very smalllll ray of hope in my day today! Praise God! :-)

No news..........

Well, nothing from my social worker yet today. Boo hoo. It's been 10 weeks from our 1st meeting with her. For some reason, the child abuse clearance from one of the counties we've lived in (we've only lived in two!), just is taking really long. My sw called them on a bunch that were taking long, and they got those in, but ours didn't come. That was last Friday. I hate to call her all the time and bug her but I will probably give a call today sometime. We had a problem last week with an old arrest of my hubbys. I didn't declare it, cuz I didn't think it was an actual arrest. Our last adoption we did declare it, and when we had to get a letter from the police, they didn't have any paperwork on it and acted like we were crazy for having them write a letter for us. So this time I assumed it was nothing. Well, it wasn't then it looked like I was trying to lie about it. I really really wasn't trying to hide it. I mean, I even have the same social worker who did the homestudy. That would be pretty, ummm, brainless to try to lie about it. But I feel really bad about it. I actually have to admit that it was kinda........brainless(!) of me to think it wasn't there. But that's what I thought. !!! I know! I almost ruined my chances to adopt Tristan!! Hey, maybe I should name him Chance?

God is faithful!

VACTERL Association

Looks like RDu has what is called VACTRL association. My pediatrician thought so when he first looked at his paperwork. So did the International Adoption Clinic when I had them reveiw it. It is very interesting, and overwhelming, to read about all this that "might be". I'm on a few yahoo groups re:this as well to try to get as much info as I possibly can. It's hard to know what I need to prepare for because I haven't seen any sort of medical info past the age of 11 months for him. I emailed 2 different people at the orphanage but haven't heard anything back. Well, I did, but not from the doc or about his medical condition.
That poor little punkin. It seems like we will be spending quite a bit of time at the Cinncinati Childrens Hospital because they have a specialty clinic that is well known for their VACTERL work. Here's some info I copied off the site...

What is VACTERL association?
VACTERL or VATER association is an acronym used to describe a series of characteristics which have been found to occur together.

V stands for vertebrae, which are the bones of the spinal column.

A stands for imperforate anus or anal atresia, or an anus that does not open to the outside of the body.

C is added to the acronym to denote cardiac anomalies.

TE stands for tracheoesophageal fistula, which is a persistent connection between the trachea (the windpipe) and the esophagus (the feeding tube).

R stands for renal or kidney anomalies.

L is often added to stand for limb anomalies (radial agenesis).

Babies who have been diagnosed as having VACTERL association usually have at least three or more of these individual anomalies. There is a wide range of manifestation of VACTERL association so that the exact incidence within the population is not exactly known.

Names, hmm

Well, as I waaiiit for my paperwork to get to the next stage, I think I should really figure out what to do about this little fellas name. They gave him an English name, Tristan, but I don't think he is called by that. (Sharon??) And it's meaning is "sad". Hmmmm. They call him RDu, meaning, he's the second child from Duchang SWI to be at Shepherds Field, where he lives. His Chinese name is Du XinYong, which means "brave or courageous as a second nature" (from what i understand anyway). That would be cool if I could find an English name that means bravery.
My 6 yo daughter suggested Levi. That's cute. My 16 yo son said "Triton". I don't think so Josh. Some others: Daniel(Danny) or David (Davey). Benjamin (Benji?),Matthias (gift of God),

Any one have a suggestion for me? I Love looking at names!

God is! (I like to end with a wonderful attribute of God, and this one just "fit"!)

Are we ALMOST there yet???

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Will it EVER end? I have the nicest Social Worker. She is so sweet and she's a loving, adoptive mother herself, and I am being a big pain in the butt to her. Sorry Deb! In my state, we have to have a child abuse clearance in each county we've lived in since we were 18. I have only lived in 2 different counties so we figured this wouldn't even be an issue. One of my clearances hasn't even come back yet!! Ugghh! It's been 9 weeks. I am just praying that the Lord would speed my paperwork up and I can get my little Tristan before the year ends!

God KNOWS the outcome! How awesome is that!!

Grace

God has given me so much grace in my lifetime. He has forgiven me of so much. He has been extremely merciful to me. It is through my wonderful Savior that I have the family that I have. I am so amazed that He cares so much and that He has been with me through my turbulent life. I don't know why I am amazed though, He is almighty, He is from-the-beginning....of EVERYTHING, He actually CREATED the molecules and atoms to create everything else, and He is all-powerful. He really is in control of everything. God loves my little Tristan. He was with him during his surgeries. It breaks my heart that my sweet little man didn't have a momma or papa there to greet him when he came out of his operations. But, aside from the caregivers who were there, he did have our one-and-only Savior there with him.

My God is merciful! Thank you Lord!!!

Our reason for This Blog

I decided to use a blog to journal our adoption of this sweet precious gift of God into our family!

I first saw Tristan on a gals blog who advocates for orphans, The blog is called cornbread and chopsticks and she does a wonderful job!

I fell in love with him from the beginning and asked my agency, Madison Adoption Associates, to find him for me. After some work, they emailed with his info and we began the infamous paperchase!

Right now I am waiting for my homestudy to get finished so I can ship it off to immigration.

I have been so blessed with this little boy so far. The orphanage where he is is doing a wonderful ministry for these special children and through Tristans sponsor, I have more information on him than I could have ever imagined. I have over 200 pictures, as well as a bit of video and plenty of ways to be in contact with them.

For this adoption we are trying to fundraise. It's very intimidating for me but there are so many families out there who have done this before and are willing to share their experience, what worked, what didn't. Next month we are having a rummage sale. I've sold some things on Ebay and Half.com. I have lots of homeschool books to sell and 2 book sales that I will be participating in this month.

God is so gracious!