Pot Holes

Hello, again!

I know most of the blog  posts you've seen from me have been positive ones, and for the most part, this has been a very positive adoption journey, especially when compared to the journey that some of our other friends have faced/ are facing.

However, that's not to say that there haven't been some pot holes along the way-- those bumps in the road that make you say, "Ouch!"  Sometimes you keep on going and hope that it didn't do any damage, and sometimes you get a flat tire.

Well, the past couple of weeks, we've hit a couple of pot holes-- one that is an ouch (although for us, a big ouch), and one that required a flat tire to be changed. 

First, the big ouch.  Many of you received our eight updated pictures of our child several weeks ago.  Everyone remarked on how cute he was, and he is cute, no doubt about that.  However, this mama didn't think this child had the same face as the child we saw in the video that we received at the time of referral.  I thought, "Not the same face, he grew a LOT in three months, and why do the reports state that he is walking with assistance and only standing for 30 seconds on his own, but he is doing a little gymnastics move in one of the pictures?"  Howie and I looked and looked to see any hint of a similarity.  "How about the ears?  Are his ears the same?  Yeah.. looks like it.  Oh, his hairline!  Now, not many kids have a hairline like that; that must be our child.  You know, maybe the video wasn't as recent as the orphanage and our agency said that it was.  That would explain the huge change."  After two weeks of tossing these questions around in our heads, we finally asked if it was possible that a mistake had been made.  The woman on the China team looked at his pictures, at the reports, back to the video, and concluded that these eight pictures were not of our son.  They were pictures of a boy who was referred to another family about the same time as our son was matched with us.  So... then began the process of trying to get those eight pictures out of our minds.  The China team profusely apologized for the mistake and promised updated pictures of OUR son soon.  We have yet to receive them.  We're not the only ones with our agency waiting to receive pictures of our children, either, so we have no idea when or if we will get them.  That's a big ouch for us waiting to see how our cute son is doing, how he's growing, etc.

Then this week came the flat tire.  We had hoped to send immigration paperwork out early this week.  I had posted on Facebook that it was ready to go.  I had a couple more things to do and print off at that point, but that was all.  We received our addendum from our local adoption specialist, and it had two incorrect pieces of information on it. We informed her about the mistakes, and then she realized that some of the information that we spent weeks collecting didn't even need to be on there.  Weeks wasted on that, delaying our trip to see our son.  The information required her to delete-- not add-- items to it.  We're on our third day of waiting for the fix, and hopefully-- though no promises-- we'll be able to pick it up today and mail these immigration documents that are organized, copied for our file, and ready to go.

So... there is part of the bumpy road part of adoption.  Everyone faces it-- or something like it-- during the process.  We've had other bumps that I haven't written about, but one of my friends urged me to write about this.  It's a journey.  It's our reality at this moment.  We still trust that God will get us through it.  He will help us change this flat tire, and we'll keep going, though it may take us longer to get there than what we had originally hoped.  It may cost us some money to get a replacement (home study update). However, He will use it for His purpose.  We will make friends in China-- other couples who are adopting at the same time-- and maybe that's why.  We'll find out further along the journey.

At this point, we welcome prayers for an updated, corrected addendum that immigration will accept and a smooth, fast-moving process of our documents at immigration.  As always, we welcome prayers for our little Gabriel. 

Thanks for being there with us through it all!

Jenn and Howie




 



  

Gabriel Song Fischer- Next Step- Immigration!

Hi everyone,

It has been a busy past week here at the Fischer household.  We received and signed our LOA (letter of acceptance that China issued, approving us to adopt our son), and then we had to gather updated background checks from a total of three cities and counties.  Now, we're waiting for some of those background checks to be run (which can take a week and half before they might reach our agency).  Then our adoption specialist will draw up an addendum to our home study so that we can send in our immigration paperwork, and from that point, more paperwork will follow!

Plans have been made with the travel agency that our adoption agency uses, and we will soon fill out the information that takes care of the in-country travel in China.  We have decided to take the optional (but highly recommended) tour of Beijing before we go to the next province, Shandong, to adopt our son.  We will need time to adjust our body clocks, since China runs 12 hours ahead of us.  We'll want to be well-rested before we become first-time parents! 

The highlight of the week, though, was that we received updated pictures of our son!  We have been told to be extra cautious about whom we share these pictures with, so Howie and I have decided to not show them on the blog.  However, I will describe them to you so that you can imagine.  :)  The most recent picture of him shows him sitting backwards in a line of chairs that other kids are sitting on, as if they are playing some kind of game or pretending to ride on a bus or something.  He has the biggest smile you've ever seen on a kid-- and a dimple, too!!  That is my favorite picture.  Some others show him a little younger, and in those, he's concentrating on a water bottle with crayons in it, playing with large beads with a caretaker, and finger painting with purple paint.  He's very serious when he's doing these things.  Then, we have some other ones (not sure how old he was in these), in which he is being silly.  He looks like he's doing a gymnastic move in one of them and the other one (in the same location) shows a pretty good close-up of him with kind of a crazy hairstyle-- shaved all over with a big chunk of hair in front, which just adds to the cuteness.  Finally, the last picture shows him in an oversized coat, playing with a caretaker who is holding some snow up to him.  Very cute!!  We were so relieved to find him looking healthy and happy.  And... he is just adorable!!  We can't wait to hug him!  Orphanages are not a substitute for a parent, but we think he's in one of the best orphanages that is in China, and for that, we are very thankful.

We've also been learning more about his special need, which involves digestive issues.  There's a Facebook page specifically designated for people who have adopted kids who have his specific condition, and we have gained a ton of information from these sights.  Nothing beats reading advice and hearing about the realities of his condition.  We still have some things to learn that can only come from experience, but we know we have support out there, and we even know whom his doctor is going to be.  Even the people on that page give him their highest recommendation.

Finally, we've started working on communication, which will be a biggie when we get there.  I've looked at some you tube videos on sign language for babies, and it is amazing how signs can help babies and toddlers communicate their needs well before they can speak-- or speak English, in our case.  He isn't quite two yet and can say several small words in Chinese, so the transition to English should happen very fast for him, but we'll want to be able to communicate with him before that happens.  For when we're in China and maybe for a little while at home, too, we purchased a book and CD of common phrases in Chinese that are helpful for adoptive parents to know.  We hope this will help him feel more comfortable, even though our accents will be very heavy, I'm sure.

Are we busy?  Yes we are!  Add that to trying to get a washing machine fixed, doing taxes, and trying to keep up with our grading homework from school, and sometimes, we are just plain exhausted.  It's all good, though.  He is more than worth it!!

We'll keep you posted!  Thanks for following us on our journey, and please keep the prayers coming!

Blessings,
Jenn and Howie