Remember this isn't our first rodeo. Have have completed 5 adoptions and have had 5 failed adoptions; two international (Nepal and Kazakhstan) and three domestic adoptions. And this has been the longest and the shortest adoption. Because it is taking less then a year, it is the fastest. But, this has been the longest amount of time we have seen a face and "knew"our child. It has been hard to know that he is developing and growing without us.
When we first saw Will he was just 6 months old, and in the photos he was only 5 months old. Each month that has passed has brought new changes and we have missed them. We have been very blessed because we were able to get updates during our wait.
The first update we got was the end of October, when Will was 9 months old. A family that was getting their little guy at his orphanage took a photo and a10 second video of our son. We have watched it so many times. It was awesome to get an update and see him.
Our friend told us:
Here are 2 photos and a video of your little one. He was lying in a crib while we were there and I asked if we could take photos. One of the staff members picked him up and he was smiling and giggling. Super cute!
We just loved these photos! So great to see him. Our agency told us we could request one official update during the adoption process. So in January we requested our one update. We asked for photos of his hands and feet. We have a couple of specialist lined up and we wanted to be able to show them his club foot and also how his fingers and toes are affected by the amniotic band syndrome. So we can get an idea of treatment options and timelines. The first week of February we got our update. Will was 11 months old.
We felt very encouraged by the photos. It was awesome to see Will being able to pull himself up to a stand. I was worried about his strengthen and developmental delays. Children adopted from overseas orphanages show developmental delays in 50% to 90% of developmental areas (from language to motor skills). We know he will be delayed but this was encouraging to see.
We have sent William three care packages during our wait. We sent him a cake and some gifts for his birthday and we were so surprised and happy to receive photos from his birthday! This little guy is just amazing. We received these photos in March.
So, there you have it, all our updates. Since it has been 4 months since we have seen him, I am sure he had changed a lot. I do feel blessed to have been able to see him grow in change in the updates we did get. In a week and a half he will be in my arms. I just pray that his transition will be not absolutely horrifying. I know it will be hard and challenging and emotional and exhausting, for everyone. So, I will be very pleased with "not absolutely horrifying."
