Heeeerrrreee's Zander! Starring Zander!

UPDATE: We are now 39 days into our wait for our Letter of Acceptance from China. We have been following many other families during their wait and most are at 70-76 days. If that's our case, we're over half-way there WooHoo!


We have been blessed once again by our friend, Lori Printy, with this video of our little boy. He doesn't seem too troubled by anyone there, just very curious as to who everyone is and why they are there. It was nap time and there was a lot going on at the time Lori got to visit. I have watched this video over and over and over again. Here are a few of the things I've been able to pick up in conversation.

They call him Jin Jin (I believe because his Chinese name is Jien) Lori told him "I know your mommy, you have a big blonde sister, you'll have to get used to blondes." He was brought to the foster home in February, a very sick little boy, the mom here said she didn't think he was going to make it. One hospital wouldn't admit him, then the international hospital admitted him, but they had to have payment up-front. He had his heart surgery and soon after he came home he started fattening up :). He had his club feet casted last summer and has them off, but he is very wobbly on his feet. Many children who have club feet have very tiny feet and learning to get their balance for walking takes a while, so it may be a while before he's walking.

He can say mom and dad and he knows several words in sign language that he has picked up from teaching the home teaching 2 deaf children to sign. The thing we were extremely happy to hear was that his asthma has improved so much, that he isn't on a daily breathing treatment any longer and has stayed very healthy since being off of it! God is so amazing! I will quote Lori verbatim here, "It was minutes before he went up for a nap. I checked on him a little later and he was in his nanny's arms getting a bottle. No propped bottles there. They are so well cared for. BY FAR the best care I have seen in the 15 orphanages I have visited. Cant wait for you to bring him home." I don't know about others adopting, but I can imagine, these words to us meant nothing short of tears of happiness and gratitude for his caregivers.

There's been a lot going through my mind this week. Heavy things. I was blessed to watch the journey of a friend bring home her daughter from China. I cherish her frankness and real-life adoption story because it wasn't sugar-coated, she told it like it was, and for her, it was a hard 2 weeks in China with her newest little princess. This made me start thinking of "What will it be like for our family?"

Zander has only known one home, a wonderful home with a foster family, a loving home, lots of attention and one-on-one care. Whereas our friend's little girl suffered in one of the poorest orphanages, not even knowing how to speak at age 3, then she was moved to a wonderful orphanage where she started to learn, but it was still an orphanage, without a mom or dad to call her own. But now she is adjusting and settling into her new family. She and they are so blessed to have one another and for us to call them friends.

Recently my oldest daughter quoted, "It takes a village to raise a child." This title was given to a book written by Hilary Clinton. But the proverb comes from African decent. There are others variations of this proverb in Africa, "A child does not grow up in a single home", "A child belongs not to one parent or home" etc.

This made me think of moms from the US. I truly believe it takes a "village" to raise a child. But the child must have a caretaker where they will learn to love, they are wanted, they are cherished and will always have someone, and the most important - about God who will always be there for them.