Surprise from Fuyang!

One of the hardest parts about the wait is not knowing how our children are doing or even what they currently look like.  When we first saw Matteo's face in May, we were looking at the picture of a chubby toddler taken months before.  We got a brief update on him right before we matched and we've had virtually zero information since then.  Our agency hasn't been able to get an update and neither had the third-party courier we sent a care package through.  The care packages were delivered, but the courier reported that the orphanages weren't being quick to cooperate with providing updates.  I'd given up on any updates until a little over a week ago, when I decided to give another courier a try.  In addition to sending care packages, Ladybugs and Love From Above will also call orphanages and request pictures and updates.  Even though they have a good success rate, if the other service hadn't been successful, maybe the orphanages really were being tight-lipped. 

Weekends (and holidays) can be a lonely time in the adoption world because us parents still waiting to meet our children know we won't receive any news while agencies are closed.  Whatever hope we had for an approval on a step in the process or an update on our children disappears by Friday morning (since China offices are already closed for the weekend by that point) and doesn't reappear until Monday morning.  So I was shocked to get an e-mail today from an "Angela" with the subject line "Yang Chen Tao."  It was an update on Matteo!

It sounds like he's doing really well, which of course, is a relief. Although his palate has not been repaired, the update reports that his speech is "clear and understandable".  He's starting to talk and he likes to ride his bike and play with his toy excavator.  Whoever wrote the update described him as "introverted and playful."

Along with the update we got six pictures, all of which are very precious to us.  They were taken in the last week at what I assume is his foster home.  Chris the cyclist was thrilled to see pictures of Matteo "repairing" his bike.

Look at that big grin!  This is the first time we've ever seen Matteo smile.

I had asked about Matteo's foster family and was told that he lives with his foster parents and an older brother and sister, plus younger foster brothers and sisters from the orphanage.  He looks happy and well-loved and there's a part of me that feels guilty knowing that we are going to take him away from everything he knows and loves.  The facts tell me that he needs continued medical care, that he can't stay with his foster family past age 14 and that he needs the guarantees in life that a forever family provides - but my heart still hurts knowing I will be the one to take him away from the life as he knew it.

People ask me if he knows he's going to be adopted and frankly, I have no idea.  I don't know what he's been told and whether he's even seen the pictures we sent him of his new family.  I don't know what he or his foster family thinks of us.  But no matter what he's been told, he's not even two and a half, so how much can he possibly understand anyway?