Matched...With a Baby Boy!!!

That's right...our family is growing again!!  This time our family is growing by a baby boy...we are beyond excited!

We received the call from our social worker on Friday evening at 4:30pm that we were being matched with an 18 month year old boy.  Matt and I were both on our way home from work when I checked my messages and noticed that I had missed a call from our social worker.  She simply said "I have good news, call me back asap!!"  Since I was driving I knew I just needed to get home to call her back so that I could safely absorb the information.  I called Matt and told him to hurry home as well and we could call Bonnie together.  As I loaded Ava up in her carseat at daycare, my phone rang again...Bonnie.  I couldn't help myself, I couldn't wait anymore!!  So I answered and that's when I learned that there is a healthy, 18 month old boy at the Holt Peace House in Beijing waiting for us.  She gave me a brief over view of his file and then asked if we wanted it sent our way..."Yes!!"

I did wait until Matt got home to open the file ;)  Luckily he wasn't far behind us!!  I shared with Matt what Bonnie had told me and then we both agreed that he sounded perfect and we definitely wanted to review his file.  When we opened the file, tears of joy came...he is a precious, beautiful little boy who has been through more in his young life than any one person should ever have to endure, especially as a baby.  He was abandoned as a newborn and immediately needed surgery.  At this time we don't have a lot of the details of his abandonment nor where he was found.  But we do know that he was in Guangdong Provence for the first part of his life.  He spent 6 months in the hospital for intestinal atresia repair which required several further surgeries as things did not go as planned.  The intestinal repair resulted in a fistula which required further surgery and a temporary colostomy.  But it appears that he was well cared for and is now doing very well and thriving.  He has a surgical scar that is the width of his abdomen that proves his strength.  All I want to do is kiss him all over and let him know that he will never have to endure something like that again, alone.

After the hospital, Ru was in an orphanage in Lianjiang City from April 2013- February 2014.  In February, Ru was moved to the Holt Peace House in Beijing.  It is amazing to know that until we can get to him, Ru is in the best place possible.  The Peace House is run by Holt and is usually for kiddos who are preparing for major surgeries.  Being at the Peace House allows them to gain strength prior to surgery and a safe place to heal afterwards.  We learned that they had several openings in February and Ru was one who was selected...God is SO good.

Because of where Ru is currently we not only were able to review his chart and pictures but we also got videos!!  I can't tell you how exciting that is nor can I keep track of how many times we have watched the videos :)  As we were watching the videos, Matt said with pride, "that's my boy!" as Ru was being silly with one of the caregivers.  Ava loves to watch the videos of her brother.  She watches intently and says baby brother over and over again.  She is excited and will quickly learn what having a baby brother means.  

It took us only an hour to know that Ru was meant for us and to send in our letter of intent to adopt him.  Now we are waiting for his medical file to be reviewed by Dr. Kolb to advise us on questions we should further ask.  The other amazing part is that our dossier is not yet in China.  It is still in Oregon and Holt is working quickly to have our paperwork certified and authenticated.  As soon as that is done it will be sent to China.  We have emails out to Holt asking how not having our dossier in China yet will affect our travel time frame.  Obviously we are anxious to get there as soon as possible.

Talk about meant to be...again...Ru being matched in our family is truly a God thing.  Our paperwork isn't even in China but they still thought of us and thought of us as a perfect match for each other.  We cannot wait to meet this little guy!!      

Ru, we are so excited to meet you and hold you in our arms!!  We pray that until we get to you that you are safe, fed, happy, learning, laughing, smiling, and loved.  We promise to get to you as quickly as we can.  We love you beyond words and continents already.  May God keep you healthy and safe until we can be together.  We promise you will never be on your own again.  We love you!!  Mama, Baba, and your big Sister!