A little update on Z!

Last week was a fairly eventful week.  Wednesday we had our last home study visit and everything went great!  The social worker said that the first draft will be done on Monday.  So, tomorrow if all goes well, I will be emailed a copy of what she has written about our family.  Dave and I will go over it together and make sure everything is accurate and nothing is missing.  Then we will send the draft over to our placing agency and they will do the final review and let us know what needs to be added.  Finally, when they send us the draft back, we will send it to the home study worker and she will finalize it and send us 5 or 6 notarized copies.

As soon as that is done, we will be submitting our I800A form which will include copies of our birth certificates, home study, and the application.  If all goes well, this should be submitted to immigrations within the next couple weeks.  Then we wait until we are approved to proceed.  We have most things gathered for our dossier after we get the I800A approval. 

In the meantime, we prepare and learn all we can about raising a child with visual impairment and possible hearing impairment.  We have contacted and met with KRESA here in our town and they have some excellent resources available.  In the spring the kids are going to volunteer at a sports camp for VI children.  This will give them an idea what little Z will be able to do someday!  I have a feeling they will be amazed :-).  We are also connecting with people who have experience with parenting children just like Z.  We want to be as equipped as possible so that we know what to expect.

Last week we were able to get an update from our foundation when they visited his orphanage a couple weeks ago.  Along with the update came 2 amazing videos of our little man and several adorable pictures.  Our little guy needs us!  We love him so much and are so excited that God chose us to be his family.  Some of the update was hard to read because he is a child that is severely behind and clearly needs his family.  Knowing that he has several months until we visit and even more months until we can take him home is very hard emotionally.

From the update, there are some things we have learned about him.  Many things we already knew, but some of these things were new to us.  For one, and probably the most important one is that Z has bonded with one of his caregivers.  This is very good because it means that he is capable of forming an attachment with someone else.  This person even said in the report that he knows when she is in the room even though he cannot see her.  She doesn't know how he knows, but he does.  In the video he is playing a game with her and we can hear him laughing!  This is awesome because until this update, we were unsure if he was loved at all.  Now we know this woman loves him very much and actually has formed a bond with him.

Z is 7 years old and according to his measurments that were taken on his birthday in January, he weighs approximately 23lbs and is 36inches tall.  He is unbelievably small.  This is not uncommon for children in these orphanages to be this small.  I am sure onces he is home he will be able to gain weight and grow.  Z is rarely sick and overall he has no other physical issues besides his vision and hearing.  His organs show no abnormality!  Praise the Lord!  He is supposed to be getting a hearing test soon, which will require him to be put under general anesthesia.

Z loves a swing that is in his orphanage.  It seems to calm him down when he is distressed.  We plan to look into getting a swing in our home to help him with the transition.  We have seen a really neat swing at IKEA that may be just the thing for him!  If anyone has a used one they want to sell us, let us know!

We are so very thankful for this update and the new pictures.  He is a very handsome boy who according to the psychologist... this adoption is his BIG CHANCE!  If he is placed in a smaller enviroment they believe he has a chance to succeed!  We know this and are excited to follow God's calling to adopt him.  We know this will probably be the most difficult thing we have ever done, but probably the biggest blessing too!

Thanks you all for your continued support and prayers to bring our little guy home.  We are in the beginning stages of planning a benefit dinner/concert for Z.  We have found an amazing local Christian band that is willing to put on a concert for everyone.  Right now the hope is for it to be on a Friday night in April or May... right before our first trip.  The night will include a spaghetti dinner, concert and possibly a silent auction.  If anyone wants to help, please let us know.  It should be a fun night and one that we can tell Z about when he is older.  It will be awesome.  We have heard this band play several times and they are AMAZING!!!  More details to come... I promise!